Today is Day 109 of my Daily Food Diary.
Today is also Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to you and yours! I hope you are having a special day. Our weather is sunny and warm which makes for a special day for us. Son Dan calling a few minutes ago, made this day even more special!

Today ALSO marks the twelfth anniversary since my Mother passed away. (Hence the yellow flowers, which were her favourite).
My mother was not perfect, and as often is the case with mother daughter relationships, ours was not perfect. (I’m not sure if this is true with most, but in my case I think I resented the fact that she made mothering look so darn easy!) The cooking, baking, sewing, cleaning, home making and mothering in general. She made it look too easy. For the record it isn’t! It is hard work and takes more skill and talent than I ever possessed. 🙄
Mother’s greatest skills shone in the kitchen. It wasn’t just that she managed to prepare delicious meals, year round, on a very tight budget. It wasn’t that she prepared a feast for EVERY single holiday. It was that on top of all that, my mother was way ahead of her time when it came to serving up healthy, nutritious food at every meal she prepared.
My mother was born in 1918. She was third eldest, in a family of ten – seven boys and three girls. Mother obviously did her share of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and the like. Growing up (on a farm no less) there was always plenty of experience to be had. Growing up through the Dirty Thirties, taught her all about doing it all on a tight budget.
When my Mother grew up, she went to work as a cook’s assistant at the Gravelbourg Hospital. There, under the careful watch of the Catholic Nuns who ran the kitchen, Mother learned all about cooking healthy meals and baking appetizing deserts. In those days, feeding patients nutritious, strength building foods was a thing. The meals that patients were fed, were considered as important as the medicines that they were given and the medical procedures that they underwent.
My mother learned a lot about preparing and serving healthy meals in her time working in the hospital kitchen. Over the years, we were fortunate that she used this knowledge and skill to nourish us and ultimately our families.
That will always be remembered – and it will always be appreciated. 🌻💞

Daily Food Diary – Day 109
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2) (4.7 mg)
(15) tater tots (233) (333 mg)
(1) sausage patty (190) (430) (1)
Snacks:
(1) c cranberry tea
(1/4) c unsalted peanuts (160)
(46) oz water
Supper:
(8) oz cap off grilling steak (600) (110 mg)
(3) oz russet potato (79) (8.6 mg)
(2) tsp butter (69) (63.3 mg)
(15) Asparagus spears (49) (31.5 mg)
(1/2) c mushrooms (22) (1.6 mg)
(1/4) c green olives (10)
(1) tsp olive oil (40)
(1) tbsp Kraft Hickory BBQ sauce (25) (215 mg) (5 grams)
Total Net Calories: 1375
Net calorie goal: 1255 – 1375 = 120 over 👎
Total Processed Sugar: 6 grams
Processed sugar goal: < 25 grams 👍
Total Sodium: 1197.7 mg
Sodium goal: 1500 to 2300 mg 👍
* A win for sodium and processed sugar by health guideline standards, but a true win for me and my lungs is 0 Grams of processed sugar! I am not happy with Kraft for putting the five grams of sugar in the barbecue sauce, or for myself for not noticing it. I seldom use condiments and neither Dan or I typically use barbecue sauce. We keep it for company, and I just grabbed it last night, thinking it would be quick and easy. 🤦
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🌞💞







